The Intercontinental Championship has been called the second most important championship in the company, after the WWE Championship.[4] It has been active in WWE for the second longest period, but is the third oldest active title, behind the WWE Championship (1963) and the United States Championship (1975), the latter of which was acquired from World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 2001. In 2002, the WWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and the championship was renamed accordingly.[5] As a result of the 2019 WWE Superstar Shake-up, it is exclusively contested on the SmackDown brand.

Ramon and Rick Martel were the final two participants in a battle royal. Ramon then defeated Martel for the vacant title; The match aired on tape delay on October 11, 1993. However, Michaels returned in November 1993, claiming to be the legitimate champion as nobody defeated him. Ramon went on to defeat Michaels in a ladder match on March 20, 1994 at WrestleMania X.

On December 28, 1999 (aired December 30, 1999) on SmackDown, a title match between Chyna and Jericho ended in a double pinfall; as a result they were recognized as co-champions. WWE doesn't recognize this period as an official reign but as a vacancy.

This was a two-fall triple threat match, also involving Chris Jericho, in which Kurt Angle defended both championships. The person to get the first fall won the Intercontinental Championship and the person to score the second fall won the European Championship; Benoit scored the first fall to win the Intercontinental Championship.WWE recognizes Benoit's reign as ending on May 4, 2000, when the following episode aired on tape delay. They incorrectly list his reign as ending on May 22, 2000, and lasting 50 days.

On March 25, the brand extension began, in which wrestlers and championships became exclusive to either the Raw or SmackDown brands, represented by the show of the same name. The title became exclusive to Raw when Van Dam was drafted to the Raw brand.

On May 6, 2002, after the World Wrestling Federation was renamed "World Wrestling Entertainment" due to a lawsuit by the World Wide Fund for Nature, the title was subsequently renamed to WWE Intercontinental Championship.

The title became exclusive to SmackDown when Benoit defected to SmackDown on July 30, 2002.Aired on tape delay on August 1, 2002.WWE incorrectly list Benoit's reign as ending on August 26, 2002, and lasting 28 days.

The title was returned to Raw due to Van Dam's status as a Raw wrestler.The following night on Raw, Van Dam defeated Tommy Dreamer to unify Hardcore Championship into the Intercontinental Championship, deactivating the Hardcore title.WWE incorrectly list Van Dam's reign as beginning on August 6, 2002, and lasting 41 days.

On May 7, 2010, SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long suspended McIntyre and vacated the title. The following week on SmackDown, Kofi Kingston won a tournament to declare a new champion, but Vince McMahon reverted Long's decision, nullifying Kingston's win and continuing McIntyre's.

WWE recognizes Rhodes's reign as beginning on August 12, 2011, when the episode aired on tape delay.On August 29, 2011, the brand extension ended, allowing the Intercontinental Champion to appear on both Raw and SmackDown.